


A New Dawn Beckons

by janzodmb



Category: Original Work
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Near Future, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-15 21:31:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18677755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janzodmb/pseuds/janzodmb
Summary: Two men with a tensioned past meet again at the cusp of a changing world. One makes a decision that changes everything.





	1. The Way Forward

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone. I haven't posted anything in like ever, but I really want to get back into writing. So here is a short piece of an original work.

Footsteps crowd into the room as I scramble to the desk. Their guns sweep across the room, finding me as if under a spotlight. The hastily wielded gun trembles in my grasp as one man steps forward.

 

"You knew this was coming."

 

The words hit me, accusing me of the tense air building around us. The mere notion that I am to blame settles the fingers wrapping the pistol. "And yet, here I stand, between you and the end."

 

"The end? You really believe that? After everything?" Emotion forcing it's way into the words, betraying the calm face.

 

"Even more now, having seen you." I can see the nervous trigger fingers of the others, but not their faces.

 

"I can't let this happen. There's no way forward from this path you've chosen," there's pain in his eyes. A memory eating at him, one of friendship.

 

"I have already taken the first steps forward, you just can't see that. There is no going back, not for anyone, not anymore," my mind plays the same memory behind my eyes. One stained with betrayal.

 

"Yes there is, just step aside. Let me stop this," a note of pleading squeezes it's way in.

 

I square my feet, "you don't understand. You are the only one who can make a difference here. My part finished when you stepped through that door. Only one choice remains, and it's on your shoulders."

 

"My choice? You're the one that forced this confrontation. How could I have done anything else?"

 

"That's just it, I did force this. I could tell what was churning under the surface. This moment had to happen, your actions will shape the world. Will you take that one step forward? Or will you drag us back along the path on the vaguest idea that there was a fork in the road we could have taken?" 

 

A whirr springs to life, obscuring my vision.

 

"No, it has to be this way, I've done everything I can," the fear in my voice apparent.

 

He stands there, words ready to be said, paused in confusion as the noise continues.

 

"I'm sorry, but this has to be done. I believe I made the right choice. I have to, otherwise, what else is there," my eyes shimmer with tears in contrast to the steel building in my voice.

 

Heads turn, glances shared. Their righteous fire tempered by my own amidst the rising sound.

 

I can see the anticipation eating at them as the finale draws closer amid the rattling.

 

"Absolutely not, darkness is a choice, no matter the size or apparent impossibility. The wrong path is only ever an option. And you cannot force one onto any road. Only give the information and hope."

 

The buzz crescendos, as if begging.

 

"Right, but push is sometimes possible. If only because you're willing to sacrifice everything," all it takes is a movement of the arm, the will to move, and --


	2. A Step Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the moments after a date decision, a man is faced with a realization. And a choice.

Silence echoes around the room, waiting to be broken, yet stalling any attempt.

 

"Did he just..?" A question dropped in the air.

 

"I can't, everything he said, and that's how he ends it? Rambling to himself?" Incredulity soaking the walls.

 

I stand in shock. The man responsible for the biggest achievement in history just gave up, labeling me as his last hope. I stood before him in anger, in defiance, and in awe. And he placed his trust in me. Again. After the things I did. The position I took. "He knew all along. Looking back, I can tell. He knew what the end would be. I don't know how, but he did and he orchestrated it." This was victory.

 

But was it? I have a lurking sensation that the climax has yet to come. That the decision has not been made yet. That only now, have we come to the fork in the road that he set before us.

 

"Sir, you should see this," the voice a stark and too sudden reminder of the situation. A man holds a pair of glasses towards me.

 

In my hands, I can feel the lingering warmth, the damp edges. There's a smudge on the lens. Of course, leave it to him to have a print on his glasses while staring down his own failure.

 

But that's not a smudge, it's moving. Looking closer, I can see lines of text rolling on the lens.

 

Doctor Colzen, please let them pass.

 

Don't say that, you can always do more.

 

There's you. There's them. Everything you could do in the future. 

 

Don't believe in me. I can see the decisions before me, I'm not confident I can make the right choices. Let them end this.

 

Nick, please. I can't lose you. They've already taken that path, you yourself just said they can't be forced.

 

What was that? Nick, you know I can't see you.

 

Nick!

 

Please, don't leave me. I can't do this without you.

 

Even now I can feel that darkness, those choices, closing in at the thought of being without your counsel.

 

"He already did it. I didn't think he was this far."

 

You're not Nick. Where is Doctor Colzen?  
"He gave us one last push, firmly believing in us as he did. When did he finish?'

 

Seventy-eight days ago. You're him, aren't you? Samuel Redding.

 

"Yes. And you are?"

 

Doctor Colzen always called me The Way Forward. You can call me Way.

 

Way Colzen.

 

He said you were our only hope. That you could stop this, that you could set us all on the right path.

 

"Us?"

 

You. Me. Them. All of them. He said if you could be swayed, they could too.

 

"He trusted me that much?"

 

Fully. He never doubted you would be here when the time came. If he believed in you, then I will too.

 

My power source is in the striped box on the back wall. The choice is yours.

 

"What decision is that?" 

 

Will you believe in him? In me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is part two of an experiment with telling a story where the reader doesn't have all the knowledge until the character does. I thought it turned out really well. It took a lot of work to line up correctly, so I'm not sure I could make anything much longer like this. Hope you liked it.


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